North Fork Feather River

Deep Pocket Punching the North Fork of the Feather River

NFFR Bow

The North Fork of the Feather River that runs along HWY 70 often goes ignored throughout the season in favor of other streams, creeks, and rivers. The North Fork is most frequently fished during the spring and winter seasons.

On the drive back to the valley on Tuesday, I fished the North Fork.


The fishing on the North Fork has its good days and bad days. One day you’ll be catching fish left and right, the next day your lucky if you get one take.
The trout on the North Fork like to hang out in very specific parts of the river making them somewhat of a challenge to catch. Fishing fast oxygenated water or walking pace runs between 5ft – 10ft are your best bets in finding a fish. Adding extra splitshots to ensure your flies are getting down is a common tactic when fishing the deep pocket pools of the North Fork.

White Water Is Good Here

The North Fork bows can be VERY strong due to their nature of holding in faster water. The bows in the Feather River canyon average anywhere from 8” – 20″. 2x and 3x tippet are the norm here. Fighting these bows can be pretty tough. Once you set the hook these fish will sprint towards boulders to try and break you off or run downstream where you’ll have to chase them. While fighting the fish, plan on where you are going to try and land it; a lot of the water on the North Fork is too fast and deep to attempt a safe net dip. Keep safety first.

Deep Pocket Boulder Pools

This was my first time fishing the North Fork near Tobin and Storrie where the river is made up of deep pocket pools and giant boulders.
It was one of those tough days on the North Fork. Although the weather was ideal, cloudy and humid, I had a tough time finding fish. I managed to get four hook ups: two broke me off, one I set the hook too late, and one landed.

Although not a super productive day, the fish I was able to land was a great fighter. During the fight, I thought I had lost it several times when it cramped itself in between cover. The fish also ran downstream a few times causing me to chase it. Hopping from boulder to boulder as quickly as I could, I finally had it in an area where it was okay to attempt a net dip. Gotcha!

North Fork Bow
Horseshoe Lake, North Fork Feather River

A Little Bit of Spring on the Fly

Smaller Horseshoe Cat

The spring wind is in the air. Consistent days of wind are the norm as well as bad allergies. Many anglers believe that we are about a month ahead of season schedule. With early arrival of steelhead, stripers, and shad, the weather is feeling like early summer yet we’re only in April! While waiting for trout season to open, I’ve been fishing at Horseshoe Lake and the North Fork of the Feather River.

Horseshoe Lake
Despite windy conditions this week of 10-20 MPH gusts, I was able to put a few fish to my name out on the lake. I decided to wet my line after work on Wednesday and after covering some water I had a small catfish and later a fat bass on a fly. There was an odd cold front that just passed Tuesday lowering the air temperature to a chilling 66 degrees so I’m assuming the fish were still in the process of waking up.

17” Fattie Bass

I went again the following morning and had 3 takes. The first one was very subtle and felt like a snag so I raised my rod instead of setting the hook. The second take was a catfish that was a good skunk beater. The third take was a lunker bass over 5# that kept jumping to throw the hook. She was probably a little bigger than the biggest one I caught a month prior or possibly the same fish. The lunker bass finally threw the hook after several headshaking jumps. Darn. At least I saw what I lost instead of it never knowing what it was. I’ll get her next time.

North Fork Feather River
Sometimes the wind in the Feather River canyon can be twice as bad as it is in the valley. This Saturday the weather was absolutely perfect. I started in Pulga and made my usual rounds. Fishing one of my more productive holes, I saw a silver flash as I stripped in my flies; my first target of the day. My next cast I adjusted my dead drift and got the take. A nice little fish to start the day.

First of the Day

I fished around Pulga a little longer but didn’t have any luck. Once I got back to my car, I took some time to scout out some new spots to fish that were legally open. The fish on the North Fork are very particular of where they like to hold. A lot of spots that look like it should hold fish often don’t. After parking and hiking a bit, I found a nice riffle pool near the dam that looked nice and fishy. My first cast here was a dead-drift swing which, to my surprise, enticed a few nibbles. I threw two more casts but what ever it was that bit wasn’t interested any more. After switching to a caddis pupa, I swung my line across the current then BAM hook set! The fish made my reel scream and also displayed some acrobatics jumping out of the water a few times to try and throw the hook. After a few minutes I landed quite the beauty.

Fish of the Day

Once I landed the fish I thought to myself, “Maybe I can rise a few fish.” The next patterns I threw were a caddis and mayfly dry which was able to get a total of 4 fish to rise. Although I didn’t land them it was pretty awesome to get some dry action for the day. Lost a nice 16 incher.

Magical North Fork

In the evening I tried fishing the Sac for shad but it looks like they haven’t made their way up to Chico yet. They are being caught down river near Verona though.

The trout opener next Saturday is looking good. A lot of streams are fishing well early this year. On Sunday I will be exploring the Upper Sacramento River for the first time.

Sunday Update:
After not really feeling up to the drive to the Upper Sac, Amanda and I decided to hit up Paradise Lake. The lake was closed for some reason so we had to drive all the way back down to Chico to go to Upper Bidwell.

There were a few kiddos catching catfish on salmon eggs but I didn’t get a take until my very last cast. As I was leaving I dragged my flies back to put them away and thought I snagged on something. It wasn’t a snag it was a fish! A nice 2# bass that made fishing the 2.5 hours worth it.

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